Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he and would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid were supposed to hijack a fifth airplane on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House.
Of course, it’s hard to know whether he is telling the truth.
What does this do for Moussaoui’s defense? Does “I was part of the big plan, but I got caught before I got my part off the ground” somehow reduce his possible sentence if the jury believes it, or is it just a confession that he was a co-conspirator in killing thousands?
M’s membership in the conspiracy is not at issue — he already admitted that he was part of the conspiracy during his guilty plea (although he provided a much different description of his role at the time of his guilty plea). For the sentencing phase, the Government has to show that M’s lies at the time of his arrest (prior to 9/11) caused the attacks on 9/11 to go forward and therefore caused someone’s death.
I would expect M’s defense attorneys to argue during summation that: (a) much of M’s testimony is irrelevant, since the FBI allegedly had enough information to prevent 9/11 but failed to act upon the information and advice provided by its field agents; and (b) M is a wannabe bit-player whose testimony is nothing more than an attempt to pad his terrorism resume.